And anyone with an hour of government experience knows that just dropping a ‘possibility’ is the key to actual government action.
Very true. Issuing a proposed regulation in tax law is one way the IRS gets its way. There are some proposed regulations that are decades old because the IRS knows congress would overrule them. Left as a proposed regulation they serve to intimidate taxpayers into a behavior that they prefer lest someone wants to tangle with them.
I would assume that this proposed regulation would begin to cost money even before becoming final. Some farmers would want to be in compliance when the regulation is final lest they lose financing, insurance etc by being out of compliance.
I think what people miss on this is that getting to a regulation is a very formal process. It isn't a bunch of guys shooting ideas on a blackboard and doing a tour of the country with a bus to get some ideas. This is an agency that has studied the issue. Their attorneys have decided they have authority to regulate, they have drafted very detailed regulations and they have published them according to the rule making process. The comments they are seeking have nothing to do with whether to regulate. They have to do with application- the how to's not the whether to's. They already decided on the latter.